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The deal will see Summit get its hands on Discuva's proprietary bacterial genetics-based platform, which facilitates the discovery and development of novel, differentiated antibiotics. This platform combines transposon technology with bioinformatics to create a powerful tool to identify new antibacterial drug targets, elucidate antibiotic mechanisms of action and optimise against bacterial resistance to generate new antibiotic drug candidates.

The global threat of drug-resistant bacterial infections

"The global threat from multi-drug resistant bacterial infections continues to rise. There are few new antibiotics in development, with most of those being iterations of known classes of antibiotics, meaning there is an urgent need for the development of novel antibiotics," said Glyn Edwards, Summit's CEO.

"With the acquisition, Summit is positioned as a leader in the research and development of new classes of antibiotics as exemplified by our precision antibiotic candidate ridinilazole for the treatment of C. difficile infection. Using this platform, we aim to generate a pipeline of new mechanism of action antibiotics that address other serious infectious disease threats."

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Discuva's platform has already shown promise, and last year the company extended a research collaboration with pharmaceutical giant Roche, which saw it receive an up-front payment of $16m, while it will also be eligible for further fees and payments of up to $175m per product developed.

Details of the deal

Summit has paid £5m in cash for Discuva, as well as £5m worth of new shares in the combined company. Discuva shareholders will also receive half of any future payments from Roche.

"Our vision is to prioritise the development of novel antibiotics against pathogens where an urgent unmet need exists and we have the ability to show advantages over current treatments," added Dr David Roblin, Summit's COO and president of R&D.

"The addition of this platform, coupled with our expertise in the discovery and clinical development of antibiotics, positions us to create new classes of antibiotics that target current and emergent bacterial threats for which there are only inadequate therapies."